The Sociology of... Creativity

How to flex your creative muscles in everyday human connection

The Gist of It: Improvised social interaction = creativity at its finest

Several years ago, I ran a workshop for a leading Fortune 500 company. I started by asking who considered themselves to be creative. In a group of over 50 people, only one person — a graphic designer — raised his hand. Everyone else remained still and silent. Of course, this wasn’t an accurate reflection of the actual creativity in the room. But I found the limitations of how they defined and measured creativity to be shocking and fascinating.

Some of this extreme response may have been cultural, as this was a foreign group. In the U.S., creativity is encouraged, especially as it applies more broadly to how we think and operate. A national mindset of innovation, however, is easy to take for granted, and that doesn’t mean it’s universally embraced, even at home.

Most commentary on creativity focuses on art or innovation, but where I want to focus our attention — and what I think is too often ignored — is the everyday creativity of human connection and interaction.

Or, you know, The Sociology of… Creativity.

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